wildlife

So this was a bit of a treat. I've only ever seen Red-headed Woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus) twice - once back in our old house in Pittsburgh and I managed to get just enough of a blurry shot to prove to Anya that I'd seen it, and this second time just the other day. I debated waiting till another day to try and get photos, but I decided against that and went and got the camera and sat and took photos for almost an hour while the woodpecker hopped around in several trees in our backyard. I'm glad I did too, because we haven't seen it again since!

I couldn't get super close, but I think for such a rare bird (they're nearing threatened status), that these are pretty good. I really hope it comes back more frequently and I can get some more shots and hopefully a bit closer, but this is definitely a reminder of seizing the moment and not letting opportunities pass you by.

Oftentimes, folks confuse the Red-bellied Woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) with the Red-headed Woodpecker because the Red-bellied also has red feathers on its head, but once you see the Red-headed, you definitely realize why this one got the name it did!

Ok - so much for posting on a regular basis... work has been absolutely insane recently, and by the time I get home I am completely exhausted; add to that the need to mow the grass every five days and that we had one night with strong storms and that we went away this past weekend, and you've got a recipe for me not getting to post all the cool stuff I'd wanted to.

Anyway, that just means you get one big post today. So after getting the cool encounter with the owl on Friday evening, we then went to Jennings Environmental Center Saturday morning. Jennings is one of those places that really wasn't convenient to get to on a regular basis when we lived in the city, but now it is only fifteen minutes away, so we can pop on over there whenever we like.

This particular morning, we were looking for birds and flowers, and we found some of both.

Finally, we had seen a couple of these Common Yellow-throats (Geothlypis trichas) at the beginning of the day, but this one we managed to get in pretty close to and get some nicer shots of. He liked to sing to mark the boundaries of his territory, so I tried to wait until just the right moment to catch him mid-song.

Ok - this isn't the promised Mother's Day post with eight eyes and eight legs. That'll come tomorrow, so be sure to stop back for that.

Hopefully Mom doesn't take the title of this post the wrong way, but it does indeed tie directly to today's subject. This evening as Anya and I were driving up to the compost heap, Anya spotted an owl sitting in the trees just off the side of the road. The kicker was that I had debated bringing my camera and didn't (shame on me!). Anya got a few snaps with her iPhone, we then dropped off our grass clippings and saw the owl was still in the same spot on our way out. So we decided to run home, grab the DSLR and head back up in the hopes that it would still be there.

Sure enough, it was! I managed to get just a handful of shots in the six minutes that the owl tolerated us being there (ok, and me being nosy and trying to sneak in closer and closer).

Oh - and the subject of the post? The Barred Owls have a very distinctive call, and it sounds just like someone saying "Who, who cooks for you?" - and seriously, on Mother's Day I guess we could all show a little appreciation for Mom's cooking!

We were just about to leave to walk the dogs when Anya noticed a commotion out on our pond. As it turns out, it was a pair of snapping turtles mating. I moved in as close as I could and took some photos as well as some video...

These things were absolutely massive - if I had to guess, I'd say at least 60 lbs each - and they definitely weren't very graceful bobbing around in the water. They did make some grunting noises that I tried to capture in the video, but they either weren't making the noises or the camera didn't pick it up well enough. I waited around until they finished and split up, and I was hoping to catch the female hauling herself out of the pond to go lay the eggs, but after some quick research, it appears that she won't lay the eggs right away (and in fact can carry the viable sperm for several years, so they can even lay viable eggs in years during which they do not mate). How's that for a fascinating bit of info?

I've heard and read in multiple places how it is important to get low - preferably eye-level or lower - when shooting wildlife photography. I've seen and taken plenty of examples where this is definitely true, but this set of photos really seems to drive the argument home (at least for me).

So here are two photos - taken only a few seconds apart from each other, of the same subject, just from a slightly different vertical angle. Honestly, I like both photos. As stand-alone images, they both work well for me, but there is a definite clear winner when I compare them side-by-side. Take a look and then cast your vote for which angle you like better...

Ok - I'm getting better and better results with my bird photography every time I head out. Normally I'd try to spread these out, but I'm just going to do a nice long post today with the top results from my last outting. I am still cropping, but as you'll see, it is less dramatic (mouseover the images for the original uncropped versions).

Hope you're enjoying the bird photographs. Eventually here it will warm up and we'll start getting back into the bugs and spiders... and hopefully a dive trip is in the not too distant future and we can get some underwater fun too! But for now, the improved results with the bird photography is really fun!

Well, today's posts are uncropped, but as you can see I did have some challenges with getting sharp images with some of the birds. The Ruby-crowned Kinglet was in amongst thin branches, so getting auto-focus to lock onto the bird and not a stray branch was difficult. With the Palm Warbler, the setting sun's light was getting so soft that the shutter speed got slow enough that movement blur became an issue. But continuing to practice with more "common" birds like the Robin and Chipping Sparrow got decent results even if they're not flashy birds...

Ruby-crowned KingletRegulus calendula

Palm WarblerSetophaga palmarum

American RobinTurdus migratorius

Chipping SparrowSpizella passerina

Hopefully I'll get a chance to get out and look for some more birds this evening.